288699 - Check folder for new messages doesn't always work

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Thunderbird :: Mail Window Front End, defect)

Description

[Morten Lied Johansen]

User-Agent:       Opera/7.54 (Windows NT 5.1; U)  [en]
Build Identifier: Mozilla Thunderbird version 1.0 (20041206)

I have a number of subfolders in my IMAP INBOX, where mail is sorted by 
serverside scripts. For several of these folders it is important to be notified 
when new mail arrives, and by right clicking on them and selecting Properties 
you get access to the checkbox for "Check this folder for new messages", which I 
have checked for the folders I'm interested in.

For some reason, Thunderbird refuses to check certain folders unless they are 
opened manually by clicking on them, while other folders are checked as they 
should.

I have not found any pattern in which folders is skipped, but a copy of 
Thunderbird will consistently skip the same folder each time, while another copy 
on another computer working with the same account (not at the same time), will 
skip some other folder.

This happens on both Windows XP and Linux (both RHEL3 and Gentoo builds).

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Install Mozilla Thunderbird
2. Create INBOX, and then INBOX.subfolder1, INBOX.subfolder2 etc.
3. Make serverside filter file mail into subfolders
4. Click Get Mail, or wait for automatic check
5. Enter a subfolder that is not reported to have new mail

(This is basically what I have done. For several copies of Thunderbird. I don't 
know if this will always reproduce the bug.)
Actual Results:  
If the bug is apparent on that folder, Thunderbird will start downloading 
mailheaders for that folder and reporting that there is new mail there after 
all.


Expected Results:  
It should have realised there was new mail in the folder during the normal 
check.

IMAP server is running Cyrus v2.2.10 and CMU Sieve 2.2.

Comment 1

[Jason Haar]

I can confirm. I've had this issue with Mozilla Mail through to Thunderbird.
Sometimes it works fine - sometimes it's hours behind

e.g. typically I can leave thunderbird running all night, go to read some mail
in folders in the morning that apparently don't have any new mail, and find
there's 20-30 new messages in them.

Entering the folder "fixes" the problem - so the 'x' minute scan for new
messages must do things differently than the code that activates when entering a
folder?

I am currently using Thunderbird 1.0.2 under Fedora Core 3, but I've had this
issue for years (different OSes). I am accessing via IMAP and have seen the same
issue with both Courier-IMAP and bincimapd.

Comment 2

[Marc Gadsdon]

(In reply to comment #1)
> e.g. typically I can leave thunderbird running all night, go to read some mail
> in folders in the morning that apparently don't have any new mail, and find
> there's 20-30 new messages in them.
>
> Entering the folder "fixes" the problem - so the 'x' minute scan for new
> messages must do things differently than the code that activates when entering a
> folder?

Same - it is causing me a real issue and I often miss out on important mails...

> I am currently using Thunderbird 1.0.2 under Fedora Core 3, but I've had this
> issue for years (different OSes). I am accessing via IMAP and have seen the same
> issue with both Courier-IMAP and bincimapd.

WinXP SP2, TB 1.0.5, Courier-IMAP - noticed problem since pre 1.0

Comment 3

[Brian Salomaki]

I'm guessing this is a common duplicate bug, but this report is the one I've found so far that best describes my situation.  I have Thunderbird 1.5.0.8 running on two Mac OS X 10.4 computers, one at home and one at work.  At home, the "Check this folder for new messages" option seems to work fine.  At work, it never happens automatically.  Most other settings should be identical between the two setups -- I haven't done a side-by-side comparison, but set both up using only GUI options and presumably would have picked the same ones both times.

On my work computer which never does the automatic update, I tried deleting my entire Thunderbird preferences folder and letting it create a new one, but the automatic checking still didn't work.

What other debugging steps can I take to provide more useful information in figuring out what's going on?

Comment 4

[Brian Salomaki]

Possible duplicates: bug 221792 and bug 324612

Comment 5

[Joshua Cranmer [:jcranmer]]

Can you provide a protocol log of the problem?
http://wiki.mozilla.org/MailNews:Logging

If no response within 3 weeks, I will close this bug as RESO INCO.

Comment 6

[Joshua Cranmer [:jcranmer]]

RESO INCO per lack of response to last comment. If you feel this change was made in error, please respond to this bug with your reasons why.